Thursday, February 19, 2009

Atheist outrage in Arkansas



Rep. Richard Carroll has introduced a bill to repeal Article 19, Section 1 of the Arkansas state constitution, which says:

"No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court." 

In Arkansas an atheist is not allowed to hold office or testify in court!  And to think, some people deny that atheists are discriminated against.  How is it that such a blatant form of discrimination has been allowed to remain in the Arkansas constitution?  Where is the outrage?

3 comments:

Skeletronix said...

Yo i saw this On link back to you on Current.com

i really hate that the ppl of the US arent gonna fight this!!! it doesnt matter if any1 beilieves in God or not!!! =rights are =rights

if the goverment takes them from one group of ppl they'll take them from ANYONE!!!!

www.myspace.com/loveme_tokidoki

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Actually, from what I understand these types of state amendments are null and void.

From: http://www.religioustolerance.org/texas.htm

"Why these religious restrictions are no longer valid:

These phrases are historical relics, left over from earlier times, and no longer enforceable.

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a post-Civil War reconstruction amendment. It requires individual states to provide equal protection under the law to all people within their jurisdictions. This requirement supersedes any applicable statutory laws and sections in state constitutions. It thus nullifies the effect of the above clauses. This was confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1961.
Unfortunately, the clauses retain great symbolic value. Decades or centuries later, they lend legitimacy to the expression of hatred and mistrust towards some religious minorities”
-Religious Tolerance.org

Cheers

GenXYY

edited because I left out a quotation mark :O

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